GOP's hunt for Florida voter fraud sparks law enforcement clash

TALLAHASSEE — A fight between two top Florida law enforcement officials is flaring up as political pressure mounts to find evidence of voter fraud that powerful GOP politicians say is benefiting Democrats in Florida’s nationally-watched midterm recount.

One of the state’s top police officialson Tuesday pushed back against Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi’s allegation that his agency isn’t doing enough to probe election fraud, which has yet to be documented.

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Gov. Rick Scott, who is running for U.S. Senate, has vocally pushed the idea that Democrats are engaging in fraud to “steal” the election for his opponent, Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, who trails Scott by roughly 12,000 votes. That push has been amplified by President Donald Trump, who has tweeted several times — most recently Tuesday — about what he sees is voter fraud. Though a host of Republicans, including Scott and Trump, have cried voter fraud, there has so far been no evidence it has occurred.

That fraud push received some resistance after both Scott’s own election officials and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said there were no fraud allegations.

Bondi gave some cover Sunday night, when she sent a letter chastising FDLE Commissioner Rick Swearingen for notmore aggressively investigating voter fraud. During a political event last Thursday, Scott — in his role as Senate candidate — asked FDLE to investigate Palm Beach and Broward counties, which Republicans have suggested are hot beds for potential voter fraud. Both counties have predominantly Democratic voters.

Swearingen said his department was not investigating voter fraud allegations because state election officials, which are part of Scott’s administration, said there were none to investigate. That, though, was not good enough for Bondi.

“Commissioner, protesters continue to grow around the state as well as additional complaints of election impropriety,” Bondi wrote to Swearingen then. “Your duty to investigate this matter is clear. I am directing you to take the necessary steps to promote public safety and to assure that our state will guarantee integrity in our election process.”

Swearingen shot back Tuesday, slamming Bondi for the implication that his office would not investigate voter fraud.

“I am deeply troubled that you think I have announced that FDLE would not be pursuing any investigation or inquiry into the conduct of elections officials in Broward or Palm Beach counties (or any other county) that may rise to criminal conduct during the 2018 election,” Swearingen wrote in the letter, which was first reported by the Tampa Bay Times.

He noted that he said he would work with the Florida Department of State, which oversees elections, to monitor potential fraud moving forward. FDLE is a Florida Cabinet-level agency, which means it is overseen by Scott and three-person cabinet, which includes Bondi.

Swearingen’s letter also noted that FDLE has “already taken the necessary steps to promote public safety and specifically the integrity of our election process during the midterm 2018 election,” but did not elaborate in the letter on what those steps were.

FDLE spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said there was no “additional information to provide at this time,” when asked Sunday about what the letter was referencing.

The current recount efforts include not only the Senate race, but the Florida governor’s race and agriculture commissioner race, which is a statewide elected post. There are also state legislative races as part of the recount. The deadline for the machine recount to end is Thursday. After that any race that has a .25 percent margin or less would go to a hand recount.